Sigee withdraws recount request

Dan Wallac, Beaumont Enterprise

By Dan Wallach

Updated 5:15 pm, Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Thomas Sigee, Democratic candidate for Jefferson County tax assessor-collector, has announced that he will seek a recount in the race in which he came up 16 votes short of incumbent Republican J. Shane Howard. This announcement was help at the Jefferson County Courthouse jury impaneling room on Friday, November 16, 2012.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise
Photo: Randy Edwards

Thomas Sigee, Democratic candidate for Jefferson County tax...

Thomas Sigee, Democratic candidate for Jefferson County tax assessor-collector, has announced that he will seek a recount in the race in which he came up 16 votes short of incumbent Republican J. Shane Howard. This announcement was help at the Jefferson County Courthouse jury impaneling room on Friday, November 16, 2012.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise
Photo: Randy Edwards

Thomas Sigee, Democratic candidate for Jefferson County tax...

Thomas Sigee, Democratic candidate for Jefferson County tax assessor-collector, has announced that he will seek a recount in the race in which he came up 16 votes short of incumbent Republican J. Shane Howard. This announcement was help at the Jefferson County Courthouse jury impaneling room on Friday, November 16, 2012.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise
Photo: Randy Edwards

Thomas Sigee, Democratic candidate for Jefferson County tax...

Thomas Sigee, Democratic candidate for Jefferson County tax assessor-collector, has announced that he will seek a recount in the race in which he came up 16 votes short of incumbent Republican J. Shane Howard. This announcement was help at the Jefferson County Courthouse jury impaneling room on Friday, November 16, 2012.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise
Photo: Randy Edwards

Thomas Sigee, Democratic candidate in the Jefferson County tax assessor-collector's race, officially withdrew his request for a recount Tuesday, two weeks after the Nov. 6 election.

Sigee, collections officer in the county auditor's office, ultimately was 16 votes short of incumbent Republican J. Shane Howard, winner of a full four-year term as Jefferson County tax assessor-collector.

Last Friday, Sigee filed for the recount along with a deposit of $11,000 to pay for it. He said he owed the recount to the more than 43,000 voters who supported him. However, his request was only for a computer recount and not a hand recount of paper ballots, which is where human error in tabulations might have been found.

In an email to County Judge Jeff Branick on Sunday night, Sigee asked to amend the recount request, but Branick turned it down because the recount request deadline had passed.

Sigee's $11,000 deposit to cover the cost of recount will be refunded, Branick said.